After deciding on Niseko as the destination for our ski trip to Japan, my friends and I went through the process of selecting a place to stay. As a heavily trafficked destination, there is certainly no shortage of places to stay in the area, which range from shoestring lodging to five-star hotels.
Wanting to make use of my newfound Hilton Honors Gold status, we wound up settling on the Hilton Niseko Village for our stay. While it didn’t appear to be the most aspirational hotel in the area, we wanted to find a property that had a good balance of location, cost, and facilities.
As it turns out, we got exactly what we were looking for.
Hilton Niseko Village – Booking
In the months leading up to the trip, I was busy scouring the various properties available in Niseko. There was certainly a wide range of choices to pick from, and having never been to this part of Japan before, we weren’t too familiar with the different areas around the ski hills.
When it came time to choose a hotel, we opted for the Hilton Niseko Village after seeing that it had direct gondola access from right outside the hotel.
Cash rates at this property vary greatly depending on the season. Rates are as low as ¥12,000 ($120 CAD) outside of the busy ski season, and as high as ¥75,000 ($750 CAD) or more during major holidays.
During the busy ski months in from December–February, expect to pay an average of around ¥35,000 ($350 CAD) per night, which is what we wound up paying for our stay.
If you’re booking with Hilton Honors points, expect to pay around 40,000 points in the low season, up to 260,000 points during holidays, and around 170,000 points per night during the ski season.
When pitted against our valuation of Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents per point (CAD), there isn’t really a strong argument to be made for a redemption here.
Since we were splitting the cost of our stay between three people, we ultimately decided that paying cash and earning points through a promotion was the best bet.
It’s worth noting that for our first night in the area, the hotel was sold out, so we just booked a room at a hostel nearby. Our room there priced out at around the same as our room at the Hilton Niseko Village, which goes to show that accommodation is going to likely be your biggest expense when planning a ski trip to Niseko.
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